Friday, December 26, 2008

The house has decided it is time for a little payback. Last week I received a call from my neighbors saying that Delilah was out running around and that they put her in the garage for me. The next day I received another call from the same neighbors saying that they were calling to her from the fence with no response. I gave them permission to go in the back yard to check on her. Sure enough, she was in her house with a gash in her leg. I drove home and rushed her to the vet where she had emergency surgery and had to spend the night. She now has 8 stitches in her right leg. We are not entirely sure how she got hurt. We found no sign of blood anywhere other then on her pillow in her dog house. We did find a hole she had dug under the fence so that must be where it happened and how she was getting out. She had to wear a soft cast for a few days as you can see in our Christmas picture I never got around to sending out but she is healing nicely. Looks like the house is now showing on the score board with 1 point.

Caution: These picture are graphic and may not be suitable for children.

WOW! This is defiantly the busiest time of year. There is so much to blog about but I haven't had the time. I hope you all don't mind a little catch up!

November - For Thanksgiving Jared and I went to Washington to visit his brothers and their families. We had a BLAST! First we stayed with Spencer, Jane and Wyatt in Vancouver, WA. They took us to the Tillamook Cheese Factory (yum and delicious), a Lighthouse and a beach called Oceanside. Mull... Falls which I posted about earlier. We even got to see Herman the Sturgeon. While learning about Spencer's prime brewing abilities, Jared has discovered a new hobby of brewing his own soda from scratch. You can check out his blog on my blog list if you want more details. :-)

After all that, we went to see Lee, Karyn and their kids in Shelton, WA. I need to say that they live in the middle of no where. Literally in the middle of a forest. I felt like I was going camping. It is so beautiful and quiet. We took the boat over to Seattle to eat at Iver's. The kids got their own table which I think they enjoyed. We could hear them giggling and having fun. The food was delicious too. The next day was Thanksgiving. Spencer and Jane came up. Karyn and the kids made a wonderful meal. We had Turkey, Ham, yams, sweet potatoes, potatoes & gravy, broccoli salad, cooked carrots (Jane's favorite), and pies galore. I'm sure there was more but I cant remember it all. We stuffed ourselves to the brim and relaxed the rest of the day. I slept really good that night. We woke up the next morning and took the boat to Seattle again. We wanted to visit Pikes Place where they throw fish at you. ha ha. It was VERY crowded but fun to look around at all the shops and goodies to eat. Whitney found an African Cuisine restaurant that was wonderful. It reminded me of the Indian food I had in India. Very Spicy. Zach really liked it as well. You know its good food when the roof of your mouth is sore for a few days after. We drove back down to Spencer's house to stay the night before our long journey home. The drive took us about 11 hours I think. Including the one potty break Jared let me take after complaining a few times that I was going to pee all over the seat and I was really hungry. He's a slave driver. I posted a bunch of pictures below so enjoy!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

It is Thanksgiving Day and we are hanging out with Jared's brothers and their families. They live in the middle of the forest in Shelton Washington and it is one of the most beautiful forest's I have ever seen. There are tree's, tree's and more tree's. There is a lake near by called Mason Lake which is also beautiful. I will try to take some pictures and post them later. If there was more sun here I would consider moving. ha ha!Our trip has been so much fun thus far and I know there is more to come. It has been so nice to have a week off of work and not have to worry too much about it. The pictures below are of a waterfall in Oregon. Its called Multnomah Falls. I believe this very waterfall was in the Twilight movie (yeah!). It was cold, windy, and raining but the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen. These are just a few. Jared is trying to put a panoramic picture together so we can hang it on our wall. I will post more of our trip when I get home. I am so thankful for everything I have been blessed with. I love my family so very much and I am glad that we were able to spend time with some of them this Thanksgiving Day! Eat lots and enjoy!!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I am proud to say my cute little puppies have now learned to use their ramp. I thought for sure it would take a lot longer then it did. Jared (brilliant) decided to put sides on the ramp so they felt more secure! Low and behold...IT WORKED!! YAY!!!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Well, after having our home destroyed one too many times (see previous blog), we came up with a solution. Jared and our friend Joey spent all day Saturday building Dexter and Delilah a fully insulated "Club House". As you can see in the picture to the right, we converted our shed into a club house slash storage shed. We were hoping to maximize our space. Joey only charged us $1.5 million which we thought was a pretty good deal considering what we had been through (again, see previous blog). He even gave us a 10% discount. Thanks Joey for all your help. We couldn't have done it without you.

Getting Dexter and Delilah to actually use their new home is a completely different story. You can see Jared trying to lure them up the ramp with a delicious doggy treat. They did not want any part of that ramp.

Typically you would think that because they are so large, they fear nothing. Well I am here to prove that theory wrong. They are scared of pretty much everything. After many hours of trying not for force them, Jared finally just picked them up and pushed them in. Go Jared and your buff muscles!!!

I am hoping they will gain the courage to venture into their new home on their own. We will continue to try until we succeed and one day, yes, one day, they can sleep outside instead of on my kitchen floor. Until then wish us luck, we are going to need it.

Monday, November 3, 2008

"Hmmm.. it may be a rainy day today, we should leave the dogs inside." (Blocked in the kitchen, of course.) It's a wonderful feeling coming home to a disaster zone. I don't think they could have done a better job with the limited ammo that they could find.

I've already removed their pillows from the floor. They somehow took the powdered milk off of the counter.

Yes and sorry for showing it, that is poo.

Apparently, the garbage, powdered milk and everything else in the kitchen wasn't good enough. They really wanted to teach us a lesson and put two holes in the drywall and chewed on the trim.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Not a lot has been going on in the Howard life. Last weekend we went to the Hogle Zoo with the family. It was a blast but I would recommend taking your own lunch because the food there is nasty. This weekend we went to Mike and Lisa's baby blessing (congratulations guys!). It was a lot of fun visiting with friends we haven't seen in a long time. We also went to Grandma Howard's 81st birthday party. We had a delicious dinner and we were able to sit and visit for a while. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

First of all, I would like to thank Heather and Melissa for the delicious dinners. I enjoyed them for a few meals. I know that Jared appreciates you bringing them over as well. The surgery was interesting. We waiting around for a while but at least I was able to take a nap on the hospital bed. A few hours later, my doctor, Dr. Barney, was ready to go. All I remember was the nurses putting warm massaging boots on my feet and then I woke up. Then I really had to go pee. ha ha. Jared thought that was funny. The nurse said that I was still too groggy and needed to wait for a while so...I went back to sleep. I don't know how long I slept for but once I went to the bathroom, all I wanted to do was go home.

My results were a relief. They found endometriosis as well as a cyst on my right ovary. My right ovary was also "stuck". Dr. Barney said that your ovaries should just "lay" there. I have lots of questions for him when we go in for our follow up appointment in a few weeks. I am so thankful that my doctor was able to fix/correct everything. The healing time isn't so bad. It seems like I'm tired all the time from the medicine. Oh well, Its worth it. Only a little longer and we can start trying to get pregnant again. YAY!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

I just got home from having dinner with my mom and sister and found the dog's distroying their swimming pool. I now have torn up blue plastic all over my back yard. Oh the joy's of having dogs. That is not going to be fun cleaning up. I better get to it before Jared gets home. Bye!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Girls Camp was a blast! We hiked and hiked and then hiked a little more. I didnt get much sleep with 13 excited teenage girls around but good thing one of the other leaders had extra ear plugs to share. We went to Heber Valley Camp and boy it was beautiful! I was excited to get home and see my puppies though! A week is a long time without them. Dexter gave me a fat lip the minute I walked in the door. He likes to jump when he's excited. Delilah is always calm so she just wanted to snuggle. Ahhh, my sweet babies!

Friday, August 1, 2008

So...I am getting ready for a weeks worth of girls and camping, hiking and spiritual activitites. I actually have to come up with secret sisters gifts. Its a good thing I have creative sisters and something called google search. this coming week is going to be interesting.